The invention refers to an attachable apparatus for covering a round bale of agricultural harvested goods inside of the molding chamber of a baling press with a section of a covering.
In a known apparatus of this kind, the lead end of a covering wound on the supply roll is guided between two parallel drums, which form the pulling-off mechanism, to an entry slit of the molding chamber. Spring devices are provided for safely grabbing and carrying along the covering and which press one of the unwinding drums against the other, and one of the unwinding drums is provided with a drive which can be turned on and off. A constant, fixedly set braking force acts upon the supply roll as soon as the supply roll is set in revolution by pulling off the covering. In this configuration, particularly with a supply roll, the exerted braking effect upon the covering trajectory is proportionally high so that during the starting phase of the covering process, an effective advancing of the covering is not always assured by the unwinding device. Slight damage of the covering results because of slippage of the drive drum. As the supply roll progressively decreases in size, the braking effect on the covering also decreases. However, it also leads to a decrease in tautness with which the round bale wraps itself in the covering.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which insures a reliable, undamaged feeding of the front end of the covering to the molding chamber during the starting phase of the covering process.
The apparatus according to the invention decreases the braking effect on the covering during the starting phase of the covering process to the extent that the unwinding apparatus can securely seize the lead end of a covering, even of sensitive covering materials, and convey it undamaged to the molding chamber. After completion of the starting phase, a tight wrapping of the round bales in the covering is obtained by a protective braking action on the covering as the latter is unwound. The braking action is controlled in relationship to the weight of the supply roll as a further feature of the invention. Thus the tautness of the wrapping is independent of the degree of fullness of the supply roll. The braking force exerted in relationship to the net weight of the supply roll can be increased so that the tautness of the covering trajectory, into which the round bales are wrapped, can be adjusted in this way.
Other features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described in relationship to specific embodiments, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents.
The construction and operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.